Sixth Age, Seventh Age
by Kelu Menati
Summary: Titan Victory AU. The gods are in the pit on the verge of fading. Demigods are in hiding, some plotting rebellion. To ensure survival for Olympus, the gods must fade to the void and choose an heir to become an Olympian in their stead. Percy must lead the rebellion to victory, overthrowing the Titans and rebuilding Olympus with their symbols of power. After TLO; Romans will appear.
1. Chapter 1

_**Hola FF. Kelu Menati here. Welcome to my first story on this wonderful site. I hope everyone enjoys it. I know I will. **_

_**Disclaimer: All rights go to Rick Riordan and Hyperion Books. This story is purely for entertainment and will not be used for profit of any kind. **_

**(Percy's POV—End of TLO)**

_Zeus kept pounding the giant with lightning, until finally, slowly, the water rose, wrapping Typhon like a cocoon, and he began to sink under the weight of the chains. Typhon bellowed in agony, thrashing with such force that waves sloshed the Jersey shore, soaking five-story buildings and splashing over the George Washington Bridge-but down he went as my dad opened a special tunnel for him at the bottom of the river-an endless waterslide that would take him straight to Tartarus. The giant's head went under in a seething whirlpool, and he was gone_.

"BAH!" Kronos screamed. He slashed his sword through the smoke, tearing the image to shreds.

"They're on their way," I said. "You've lost."

"I haven't even started."

He advanced with blinding speed. Grover – brave, stupid satyr that he was – tried to protect me, but Kronos tossed him aside like a rag doll.

I sidestepped and jabbed under Kronos's guard. It was a good trick. Unfortunately, Luke knew it. He countered the strike and disarmed me using one of the first moves he'd ever taught me. My sword skittered across the ground and fell straight into the open fissure.

"STOP!" Annabeth came from nowhere.

Kronos whirled to face her and slashed with Backbiter, but somehow Annabeth caught the strike on her dagger hilt. It was a move only the quickest and most skilled knife fighter could've managed. Don't ask me where she found the strength, but she stepped in closer for leverage, their blades crossed, and for a moment she stood face-to-face with the Titan lord, holding him at a standstill.

"Luke," she said, gritting her teeth, "I understand now. You have to trust me."

Kronos roared in outrage. "Luke Castellan is dead! His body will burn away as I assume my true form!"

I tried to move, but my body was frozen again. How could Annabeth, battered and half dead with exhaustion, have the strength to fight a Titan like Kronos?

Kronos pushed against her, trying to dislodge his blade, but she held him in check, her arms trembling as he forced his sword down toward her neck.

"Your mother," Annabeth grunted. "She saw your fate."

"Service to Kronos!" the Titan roared. "This is my fate."

"No!" Annabeth insisted. Her eyes were tearing up, but I didn't know if it was from sadness or pain. "That's not the end, Luke. The prophecy: she saw what you would do. It applies to you!"

"I will crush you, child!" Kronos bellowed.

"You won't," Annabeth said. "You promised. You're holding Kronos back even now."

"LIES!" Kronos pushed again, and this time Annabeth lost her balance. With his free hand, Kronos struck her face, and she slid backward.

I summoned all my will. I managed to rise, but it was like holding the weight of the sky again.

Kronos loomed over Annabeth, his sword raised.

Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. She croaked, "Family, Luke. You promised."

I took a painful step forward. Grover was back on his feet, over by the throne of Hera, but he seemed to be struggling to move as well. Before either of us could get anywhere close to Annabeth, Kronos staggered.

He stared at the knife in Annabeth's hand, the blood on her face. "Promise."

Then he gasped like he couldn't get air. "Annabeth…" But it wasn't the Titan's voice. It was Luke's. He stumbled forward like he couldn't control his own body. "You're bleeding…."

"My knife." Annabeth tried to raise her dagger, but it clattered out of her hand. Her arm was bent at a funny angle. She looked at me, imploring, "Percy, please…"

I could move again.

I surged forward and scooped up her knife. I knocked Backbiter out of Luke's hand, and it spun into the hearth. Luke hardly paid me any attention. He stepped toward Annabeth, but I put myself between him and her.

"Don't touch her," I said.

Anger rippled across his face. Kronos's voice growled: "Jackson…" Was it my imagination, or was his whole body glowing, turning gold?

He gasped again. Luke's voice: "He's changing. Help. He's… he's almost ready. He won't need my body anymore. Please-"

"NO!" Kronos bellowed. He looked around for his sword, but it was in the hearth, glowing among the coals.

He stumbled toward it. I tried to stop him, but he pushed me out of the way with such force I landed next to Annabeth and cracked my head on the base of Athena's throne.

"The knife, Percy," Annabeth muttered. Her breath was shallow. "Hero… cursed blade…"

When my vision came back into focus, I saw Kronos grasping his sword. Then he bellowed in pain and dropped it. His hands were smoking and seared. The hearth fire had grown red-hot, like the scythe wasn't compatible with it. I saw an image of Hestia flickering in the ashes, frowning at Kronos with disapproval.

Luke turned and collapsed, clutching his ruined hands. "Please, Percy…"

I struggled to my feet. I moved toward him with the knife. I should kill him. That was the plan.

Luke seemed to know what I was thinking. He moistened his lips. "You can't… can't do it yourself. He'll break my control. He'll defend himself. Only my hand. I know where. I can… can keep him controlled."

He was definitely glowing now, his skin starting to smoke.

I raised the knife to strike. Then I looked at Annabeth, at Grover cradling her in his arms, trying to shield her. And I finally understood what she'd been trying to tell me.

_You are not the hero_, Rachel had said. _It will affect what you do._

""Please," Luke groaned. "No time."

If Kronos evolved into his true form, there would be no stopping him. He would make Typhon look like a playground bully.

The line from the great prophecy echoed in my head: _A hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap. _My whole world tipped upside down, and I gave the knife to Luke.

Grover yelped. "Percy? Are you… um…"

Crazy. Insane. Off my rocker. Probably.

But I watched as Luke grasped the hilt.

I stood before him – defenseless.

He unlatched the side straps of his armor, exposing a small bit of his skin just under his left arm, a place that would be very hard to hit. With difficulty, he readied his arm to perform the final strike and then…

Luke let out a piercing shriek of pain. Joy and relief surged through my brain, as I realized that the threat was finally gone. Luke, through his sacrifice, had managed to expel Kronos's essence from his body and destroy the remnants of his consciousness.

But then I noticed that something wasn't right. Annabeth's knife wasn't in his hand…it had clattered to the marble floor beneath his feet. And now that I looked more closely at his skin, I realized with a jolt that the skin above his Achilles spot was smooth and unbroken. But why had he screamed?

He let out another howl of agony and beside me, I heard Annabeth back away and let out a soft moan of fear. I looked at Luke's face, wondering what in Poseidon's name was going on. Then I saw something that made my blood turn to ice.

Luke's eyes were no longer that famous sky-blue color. They were turning more golden every second.

He wasn't in excruciating pain because of a mortal wound. He was in this state because Kronos's essence was eating away at his soul, his mind being ground to nothing by the oppressive force of the Titan he hosted. My ocean green eyes locked with Luke's golden/blue eyes, and he spoke with a shaky, pain-filled tremble:

"Another Titan just escaped from Tartarus. Whenever a Titan returns to the living, Kronos becomes stronger. Now that Perses has returned, I can't hold Kronos back. He's too strong. Percy…Annabeth...please forgive me."

With that, he let out one last moan and collapsed. Annabeth shuddered with grief and choked out a sob. "Luke?"

Then his eyes snapped open. They blazed a pure golden light, and as he stood up, the marble floor beneath him cracked. Backbiter flew from the hearth into Kronos's hands. I waited for him to drop the burning blade, but it seemed Perses's release had really made him stronger, because he didn't even notice the searing heat of the blade. I watched in horror as the two-tone blade morphed back into its original curved form.

Kronos grinned with maniacal delight. "Well now, Jackson. How do the mortals put it exactly? Ah yes. It's time to go out with a bang."

My eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. I had to stop him from converting to his true form, or the explosion would take out the entire throne room…and the Olympian seats of power along with it. I charged forward, Riptide held ready to cleave Kronos from shoulder to hip, but he just snorted with laughter and flicked his wrist. A blast of that annoying Titan force struck me from the side and knocked me into my father's throne. Once again, I felt the power of the ocean behind me. Kronos turned to Annabeth and Grover, who were staring back, both with broken limbs, both paralyzed with fear and helpless to do anything. Or maybe it was that Titan of time thing.

Kronos smirked. "Before I destroy the thrones of your pathetic gods, I think it'll be amusing to make Jackson watch me kill his two best friends." He laughed and raised his scythe above Grover first. "Goodbye, satyr".

I had no time to think. Acting out of pure instinct and anger, I shot to my feet, letting my fury and fear at the prospect of their deaths overwhelm me. Inexplicably, I felt a tug in my gut, although there was no water in the throne room. But then, my father's throne started to glow an ocean green, and a powerful wave blasted out of it and swept Grover and Annabeth right off of Olympus.

Shock and fear raced though my body. I had just sent my two best friends in the world over a 600-story cliff. I was just about to give in to despair when a familiar voice sounded in my head:

"_Don't worry Boss, me 'n Porkpie got your blonde friend and your goat pal"_

Blackjack! Once again, my faithful Pegasus has saved my butt. I am so thankful that the other Perseus knocked the first Pegasus out of Medusa's head. If I ever see him in Elysium, I will thank him a thousand times. I quickly sent out a response thought to Blackjack:

"_Blackjack, thank goodness you got them safely. Don't come up to Olympus, Kronos is about to blow. Which reminds me, WHERE IN TARTARUS' NAME ARE THE GODS DAMN GODS?"_

"_Chill boss. No need to yell. And ummm…the gods are kind of busy right now"._

"_BUSY? I'm fighting the freaking King of Titans here!"_

"_Yeah I know but three huge Titan guys are out here holding the gods back from you two."_

"_So THREE Titans are holding back TEN gods?"_

"_The gods are still real busted up from fighting that Typhon thing. Besides, Aphrodite really doesn't do anything, and Zeus already threw all his lightning. Your old man Poseidon is the only one with any real juice in him, and these Titans are really strong."_

I cursed. Kronos was about to evolve, and I was going to face him down by myself. Speaking of Kronos, he did not look happy. The gold in his eyes brightened, so that it looked like two suns were trapped inside of Luke's head. He glared at me furiously, then charged at me, slicing down with the crescent blade of his scythe. I wasn't stupid enough to move. Right here, in front of my dad's throne, was the safest place on Olympus to fight the Titan king. I raised my sword and met his strike, the shockwave shaking the room. He started forcing Riptide farther down, closer and closer to my own throat. I knew that I couldn't match him in strength, so I pulled the same trick I used on Ares so many years ago at the beach. I reached out with my powers, and felt the connection my father's throne had to the sea. Dad's seat of power was the godly link between Olympus and the ocean. I tapped into this connection and caused a twenty-foot wall of water to erupt from the throne behind me, flowing around me without hurting me but smacking right into Kronos. He staggered back ten feet and fell to the ground hard. I let out an exhilarated laugh. "That all you got?"

I should've kept my mouth shut.

He roared with anger and suddenly the golden glow surrounding him was too bright to look at. He looked at me and snarled. "You will regret your insolence, boy." Then Luke's body exploded in a flash of light.

Again, my body thought for me. Adrenaline, fear, anger, the ocean, and the burning desire to survive gave me an energy surge like no other. With more power than I had ever felt before, as well as the biggest effort I had ever exerted, I flooded Olympus.

Huge cascades of water poured from my dad's throne, enveloping the light that was Kronos and battering him with tsunamis. I used my personal flood as a shield against the Titan-turned-supernova by enveloping myself and the gods' thrones in an enormous body of water to diffuse the blinding light and combat the blazing heat that came from him. I kept pouring water into Olympus until everything was underwater, but Kronos's true form must have given him some type of energy shield, because he didn't seem to be getting wet. On the plus side, my shield was working. His energy couldn't get through ocean water, especially divine ocean water straight from Poseidon's source. The water pressure bearing down on him from all sides was preventing him from exploding fully and destroying the room with a blast. On the downside, Kronos was boiling my flood. The water nearest to him was turning to steam, and although I doubted I could boil to death, steam wouldn't be able to stop a Titan blast, and the gaseous pressure might even make the explosion stronger.

Now I realized what Dionysus meant when he described the Titan's true form. Even with the Curse of Achilles, and the huge body of water simultaneously weakening Kronos and strengthening me, I could still feel a slight searing twinge on my skin. The water distorted Kronos's image in front of me, which was a good thing too, since if I could see him clearly my eyes would go up in flames.

I needed the gods to get here, now. I sent out a telepathic message to Blackjack, hoping he could hear me.

"_Blackjack! What's the situation?"_

"_Everybody's retreating, boss. Hermes used his awesome god-of-roads-and-travel powers to get the mortals out of the combat zone. The centaurs are helping him to get people out, and Poseidon's army is evacuating everyone through the rivers. Your half-bloods are trying to regroup, but they're being forced back. Those war god kids are fighting hard though."_

"_Ares or Athena?"_

"_Both. Looks like they're trying to give everyone enough time to get out."_

"_What about the gods? I need help up here. Kronos already evolved into his true form! A little flood won't stop him forever."_

"_Oh Holy Bajeebus that's bad. I really don't know what to do Boss. Poseidon and Athena are the only two left standing. Two of the Titans retreated but one of them is still going hard, and he's the strongest one. He feels fresher than the rest, like he just came right out of…wherever it is them Titans come from. And he looks crazy weird too. His body's made out of lava and rocks. His eyes are glowing orange."_

My own eyes widened again, for the umpteenth time that hour. Fresher than the rest…my dad and my best friend's mom were fighting against Perses, Titan of Destruction, right after an exhausting battle with Typhon, two other weaker Titans, and in my dad's case Oceanus. This couldn't be much worse.

_Oh wait…yes it could_, I thought wryly as I looked back to Kronos, who had converted nearly half of my flood-shield into steam. I was running out of energy quickly. Constantly refilling a god-sized throne room with your own water was hard work. I groaned in despair. If only there were some way to use the water vapor against him too…wait.

I remembered my fight with another Titan with golden eyes. Hyperion, Lord of the East, who was now trapped in a tree courtesy of myself and my satyr friends, had been beaten into submission when I created a hurricane out of water from the reservoir and water vapor from the air. If I could do the same now…

I focused on my father's throne, drawing power from it. I opened my senses to the water flowing around me. I reached into my demigod core, forcing my inherited divine powers to come to the surface, but instead of water, I thought of the Stormbringer powers that were associated with Poseidon as well. The water around me swirled in a cyclone, and on the other side of the room, so did the water vapor around Kronos. I felt another huge tug in my gut, accompanied by a similarly large drop in my energy, and the water, wind, and vapor swirled together, forming a massive typhoon around the Titan King. Lightning crackled, and small storm clouds appeared and started to rain, adding to the deluge. I had encased him in a giant stormy prison.

But for how long, I didn't know. Typhoons and hurricanes were much harder to sustain than floods. I was fighting for consciousness, praying for someone to help me.

Amazingly, I was answered.

"_Boss, the Titan guy ran away! Athena is exhausted, but your dad's coming to help you!"_

I was elated. With renewed energy, I resumed my attack on Kronos, tightening the hurricane around him so that the winds knocked him around. I focused on blowing the wind at him in all directions so that he couldn't send his explosive force anywhere.

But then it all went wrong. Suddenly, there was a huge crash on the side of the building. I looked over to see a huge hole where the rightmost wall used to be. A smoky form rose from the rubble. I didn't manage to see him, because he raised his hand and fired a blast of orange light at me that hit me right in the chest. I flew to the other side of the room…away from my dad's throne and my source of power. I could feel my energy slipping away. The power flowed out of me faster than I could hold it back, and my hurricane died.

Before it went out completely, my father sprinted into the room. He looked like he had just survived a nuclear blast. His helmet had been knocked off his head, all of his armor was dented, his face was grimy and slashed up, and ichor stained every part of him. He looked around and instantly realized the situation. Right as my hurricane died down, we locked eyes and he mouthed _I love you son_ before Kronos's true form blasted us both off of Olympus.

As I sailed through the air, I could see the city that was Olympus go up in flames and die as the throne room exploded. I could feel the seats of power losing their strength, could feel their connection to the mortal world dissolve. I watched as the great mountain exploded, and the last thing I saw was a green layer of energy around my body, like a protective coating. Then darkness enveloped me.

_**So...Kronos blew up Olympus, and Percy is in the sky. Not a good place to be. Chapter 2 should be up soon. Please R&R**_

_**-Menati Out**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**What's gucci guys. Kelu Menati here, bringing you the second installment of my story: Sixth Age, Seventh Age. Hope you enjoy. Thanks to everyone who favorite and followed this story. Special thanks to greenblue22 and IwooIdreamIwritestories for their reviews.**_

_**Disclaimer: All rights go to Rick Riordan and Hyperion Books. This story is purely for entertainment and will not be used for profit of any kind.**_

**(Narrator POV—during Percy's fight with Kronos)**

Outside of Olympus, Manhattan was in turmoil. Millions of mortals were fleeing the city, and Hermes's powers were taxed trying to get them all out safely. He knew Zeus would have his head for breaking Ancient Laws—that is, if he even had a head after this—but he couldn't stand to see any more innocent deaths. Poseidon's Cyclopes and Mermen loaded as many people as they could into boats, rafts, or anything else they could find that would float, and evacuated them across the Hudson into New Jersey or down the same river into the Harbor and out into the Atlantic. The Party Ponies, supervised by Chiron and energized with root beer, were using their distance bending powers to evacuate everyone in northern Manhattan up through the Bronx and into upstate New York, outside of the combat zone. The situation was dangerous, but despite that the evacuation went smoothly and mortal casualties were kept to a minimum.

However, things were not going so well for the gods.

* * *

**(3****rd**** POV—Gods vs. Titans)**

Perses laughed as Ares charged at him, staggering under the weight of his eight-foot sword. The foolish god of war was clearly exhausted from his battle with Typhon, and was bleeding golden ichor from both legs as well as his forehead, yet he persisted in his attack. Ares swung at the Titan's neck, but Perses just smiled and stepped inside the strike, blocking the god's wrist with his left hand and throwing a punch at his undefended chest. However, he was shocked when Ares's left hand shot over and caught his fist. Perses chuckled.

"You're spirited, godling, I'll give you that. But you can't stop me. I was literally created to destroy."

Perses's body glowed orange, and a burst of energy shot from both his hands, sending Ares flying hundreds of feet into the side of a building. He smashed through the wall and was buried under a pile of rubble. Perses grinned. "This is what Olympus has to offer as resistance?"

To his right, Krios laughed and agreed. He used his shield to deflect a swarm of flaming arrows from the sun god, then lowered his head and charged at Hephaestus, his ram-horned helmet slamming into the smith's shield and knocking the god backwards several yards.

"Indeed! Even those Roman brats put up a better fight!"

To the left, Koios Titan of the North growled.

"We still need to talk about that. I can't believe you let that Jupiter and Bellona spawn take our palace from us. Three years we spent rebuilding Othrys, and you let children tear it down!"

He took a kick to the breastplate from Athena, and stumbled back. Artemis fired several silver arrows at his head, but he pointed his spear at the barrage and blasted them with energy, causing them all to veer off course. He glared back at Athena.

"You will pay for that."

Krios looked over at the angry Titan sheepishly before turning his concentration back to his newest opponent—the king and queen of gods themselves. Zeus had used his Master bolt a long time ago in his battle with Typhon, and until it came back to him, he was unable to use his lightning. However, he was still God of the Sky, and he proved it by blasting Krios with an extraordinarily powerful gust of wind.

The Titan and everything around him was blown off of the ground. Zeus's blast shattered windows, tossed rocks and dirt into the air, and sent Krios spiraling across the battlefield. He came to a painful stop right next to Perses. The latter growled and pulled Krios to his feet.

"Are you going to let your little nephew toss you around like this? Look at him, he is still weak. Even that little breeze tired him out. Get over there and fight, and stop lying around!"

With that he threw Krios back towards Zeus and Hera and turned to survey the battlefield. Aphrodite had been easily incapacitated, as well as Demeter and Persephone. Hades was much harder to bring down, being one of the Big Three, but with the advantage of surprise, even he was no match for the Titans. Hestia had fled a long time ago. Meanwhile, Hermes was exhausted from the evacuation and couldn't even lift his caduceus. The archer twins were—

Perses's thoughts were interrupted as a hundred arrows slammed into his back. He roared in pain and anger and slashed blindly behind him, blasting a wave of orange light in the direction that the arrows had come from. Artemis, the ever-graceful hunter goddess, leapt out of the way and rolled to safety, but Apollo was not as fast and took the brunt of the blast. He flew backwards and struck his head against the stone staircase of a building. Ichor oozed from a deep gash on his temple, and he didn't get up again. Perses fired another blast at him just to make sure he wouldn't get back up, and Apollo's body spazed and flailed wildly until he was still.

Perses looked back around. Athena and Hephaestus were now fighting Koios together. They seemed to be holding their own, even in their exhausted states. Zeus and Hera had ganged up against Krios, and Dionysus had joined them. Including the defeated gods, there were fourteen on the battlefield. But where was Poseidon?

His question was answered as a powerful force shook the earth. Gods and Titans alike fell to the ground, cracks appeared on the surface, and buildings collapsed. Perses turned to glare at the King of the Sea.

"There you are Barnacle-Beard. I was looking for you."

Poseidon growled and pointed the prongs of his trident at Perses, blasting him with green energy. Perses flew backwards as a searing pain erupted in his chest. He growled…this one was stronger than the others.

Perses leapt to his feet and pulled out his blade: a six foot long sword wreathed in flames. Its hilt was a black skull with emeralds for eyes, and the blade was a bloody red. He charged at Poseidon, and their weapons clashed.

* * *

Meanwhile, Krios was having a difficult time. He had managed to knock out Hera, but this only enraged Zeus further. He couldn't get a clear shot at Zeus because whenever he stopped moving Dionysus would attack him with grapevines. They snapped at him like whips, and tried to bind him to the ground. Krios decided that if he wanted to win, he needed to mess with Zeus's head. He looked at the King of Gods and laughed

"It's nice to see that you fight harder than your son. The pathetic boy can barely swing a sword. If I hadn't had to come aid the attack on Olympus, there wouldn't be enough left of Jason Grace for the Romans to bury!"

That statement did the trick. When Zeus heard the insults directed towards his son, he was livid. He started lashing out and becoming more reckless with his movements. He sliced out at Krios's head, but the movement overbalanced him and the Titan was able to duck down and knock the legs out from underneath the disoriented god. Tired to the immortal bone, Zeus could only lay there and watch as Krios raised his spear over his chest.

But then, a thick grapevine shot from the ground beneath Krios's feet and wrapped around his legs. Dionysus appeared in front of the two beings, sipping a can of Diet Coke and raising his eyebrows at Krios.

"You seem to have forgotten someone, Krios."

* * *

Koios grunted as his blade struck Athena's shield. He made the mistake of looking at her shield—the aegis—and the face of Medusa stared back into his eyes. He flinched slightly, and Athena seized the opportunity to stab his unprotected shoulder. Koios howled in pain as the bronze spearhead slid into his flesh. He growled in anger and tried to stab her in the stomach, but Athena merely spun to the side and hit his ribs with the butt of her spear. The Titan staggered backwards...right into the swinging hammer of the smith god. He flew a good hundred yards before crashing face first into a brick wall. Koios stood back up shakily and growled.

"I will destroy you, cripple."

Hephaestus simply laughed. "Cripple? I'm not the one whose face just caved in. You look like you stick your head in a blender for fun."

Koios screamed in fury and charged at the blacksmith. He was so angry that he didn't notice Athena coming in from the side until it was too late. She thrust her spear forward, intercepting the Titan's trajectory, and in an instant the spear was poking through the Titan's throat. Koios gurgled for a second before dropping to his knees. He pulled the weapon out of his neck and gasped for breath.

"I will be back, and you gods will fall. But for now, enjoy this."

He cocked his wrist back and threw the spear at Hephaestus. The forger had no time to block it from going straight towards his stomach, so he twisted to try and get away, but it still embedded itself in his side. He fell to his knees, unconscious. Before Athena could do anything, Koios had flashed away.

* * *

Krios growled at Dionysus, unable to do anything in his bonds. "Release me you impertinent god of beer!"

Dionysus glared at the hapless Titan with murder in his eyes. He tightened the bonds around his neck, choking the older immortal. "That's god of wine, you imbecile. And I think I'll keep you right where you are."

Krios's face twisted in a snarl. "Fine. So be it." He then exploded in a blaze of light, and when the light subsided, he was free of the restraints. He raised his spear to attack the wine god, but before he could even move, fifty silver arrows punctured his side. He screamed and fell to his knees. Artemis stepped out from behind her cover, silver eyes blazing like the moon in anger. Krios stood up from the ground, ichor pouring like a waterfall from his side. He lifted his spear and charged Artemis, but the huntress changed into a tiger and dodged the spear before leaping at his face. Krios tried to evade backwards, but Dionysus summoned another vine to trip him, leaving the Titan flat on his back. However, before the tiger that was Artemis could do any damage, Krios charged his fist with his Titanic energy and punched upwards, striking the tiger in the jaw and sending Artemis flying into the skies. He turned to face Dionysus. Before either of them could say anything, Dionysus pulled out his thyrsus and attacked the Titan. He was quicker than Krios expected, but not quick enough to defeat him. As Dionysus jabbed at Krios with his staff, the titan merely swept the weapon to the side with his spear, and in an expert move twirled the weapon and struck the wine god in the temple with the butt end of the spear, knocking him out.

Krios gazed at the god triumphantly. He once again raised his spear over Dionysus's chest…

And the next second, he was on the ground, clutching his bleeding forehead, while a silver eagle circled above him, screeching in victory.

The eagle glided down in front of the Titan before exploding in a flash of light. When the light cleared, Artemis was standing in front of Krios, exhausted and disheveled, but determined to destroy the being in front of her. Krios grimaced and got to his feet.

"We will tear down Olympus. Mark my words."

Then he disappeared in a powerful explosion.

Artemis's eyes widened when she saw the explosion. She quickly erected a shield of silver energy moments before the blast reached her—a good thing too, because the shockwave would have decimated her. However, the energy it took to maintain the shield proved too much for her to bear, and she collapsed.

* * *

Trident clashed against sword, green aura against red flames, as the King of the Oceans fought the Titan of Destruction for dominance. Perses backed up a few steps, before blasting an orange energy wave at Poseidon. The Olympian sent out a wave of green power to repel it. Both colors clashed in the middle of the battlefield, before the immortals dissipated the waves and went back to their weapons. Poseidon thrust his trident forward, aiming below Perses's ribs, but the titan twisted his body and the giant fork hit empty air. He slashed at Poseidon, but the god stepped backwards out of range. Poseidon stomped hard on the ground, causing to shake again. Perses stumbled, and Poseidon used the opportunity to thrust his trident forward again. Perses managed to block the prongs of the weapon with his sword, but Poseidon caught the blade between two prongs, and in a masterful move he slid the head of his trident down to the base of the Titan's sword before twisting the sword out of his grip. He stabbed at the Titan one more time, and this time the trident pierced through his stomach before embedding itself in the wall, essentially pinning Perses there.

"Any last words before I blast you back to Tartarus?"

Perses smiled. "You're too late."

Then, with unforeseen strength, he blasted another wave of orange light at Poseidon. This time, it struck the unprepared sea god right in the chest. He staggered back and fell. Perses tore the trident out of his stomach and threw it to the side before flashing up to Olympus where his King was fighting the Son of Poseidon.

Poseidon looked up, dumbfounded. He looked for Perses, but the sneaky Titan was no longer there. He tried to figure out what the Titan had meant when he said they were late. What had they been about to do before they were intercepted by the three Titans? They were going to fight Kronos and aid his son…

Poseidon's eyes grew wide with terror and he flashed up to Olympus, praying to whomever he could that he wasn't late.

* * *

Athena slowly looked around the battlefield. This was a disaster. The part of the city that they had fought in was completely trashed, buildings turned to rubble, streets were scorched, and craters were everywhere. She looked around at her fellow gods. Fourteen of them, and they had been defeated by three Titans. It's true that Hades and Demeter were taken by surprise, but even so. The other thirteen gods were slowly regaining consciousness. They looked around, all of them knowing something wasn't right. Zeus, as usual, was the first to point it out.

"Where in Hades is that blasted brother of mine?"

Hades was miffed. "I don't know either, Zeus, and he's my brother too. Stop just throwing my name around for no good reason."

Zeus, not one to back down, continued the argument. "Well if you would just—

"Stop fighting!" cut in Athena. "We still have to get to Olympus! For all we know, Kronos is still—

Her words were cut off by an atomic explosion.

A mile above the Empire State Building, a golden light blazed so powerful that the gods themselves were blinded, while the clap of sound that followed it dwarfed Zeus's best explosion. All of the gods cried out and looked away, sealing their eyes shut for the duration of the explosion. Athena felt something break inside of her, but she didn't understand what it was. All she knew was that inexplicably, she felt a thousand times weaker, like whatever had exploded up there destroyed her source of life. She suddenly found it too difficult to stand. Around her, the gods began to fall to their knees, and she suddenly felt truly powerless, like she had lost her connection to the mortal world.

And she had. With growing terror, Athena realized that the explosion they had witnessed was due to the destruction of Olympus itself. Their thrones were gone.

And just when she thought it couldn't get worse, she heard someone speak in a cold voice, like a knife scraping against stone.

"The _great_ gods of Olympus…look at them now. Not even great enough to stand on their own two feet."

_Kronos._

She looked at the golden-eyed titan—in his full form for the first time in three thousand years—just in time to see him open a tunnel to Tartarus. And then…the gods fell into the yawning pit.

_**I really am overdramatic. But in any case, now the Gods are in Tartarus. In the next chapter we'll see how Perce has been doing. R&R**_

_**-Menati Out**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Hey guys. I'm really sorry for the delay. I've been working on a project lately and it kind of took up most of my time. I'm also really sick right now. But I decided I'd procrastinated on this long enough, so here's Chapter 3. This chapter is annoyingly slow, but I am doing a double chapter this time so please bear with me the whole way through. Chapter 4 definitely picks up the pace, and there will be plenty of action, as well as some plot advancement. And I even threw in some *shudders* romance.**_

_**Disclaimer: All rights go to Rick Riordan and Hyperion Books. This story is purely for entertainment and will not be used for profit of any kind.**_

**(Percy's Pov—1 Month Later)**

I woke up groggily, my eyelids heavy. My body ached everywhere, but I was able to force myself into a half-upright position and look around. I was in a cave. The ceiling glittered with different-color crystal formations— white and purple and green, and I was lying on a comfortable bed with feather pillows and cotton sheets. The cave was divided into sections by white silk curtains. A wave of déjà-vu washed over me, as I realized exactly where I was. My suspicions were confirmed when a beautiful voice washed over me.

"Back again so soon, Perseus?"

I tilted my head to the left just enough to see the woman sitting on a stool at the end of the cave. I smiled. "Calypso, you haven't changed a bit." She rolled her eyes at me, like _is this guy for real?_ "I'm immortal Percy, I'm not supposed to change." I blushed slightly. "I knew that." She laughed shortly before becoming serious once again. "Can you stand?"

I shrugged and decided to try. I swung my legs out of bed, and seeing as I hadn't passed out yet, I decided to go for it. As I stood up, my back cracked and I grimaced slightly. I must have landed hard. Thinking about the landing reminded me of everything that had happened before I blacked out. A wave of failure, sadness, and anger washed over me, and I fell back to the bed. I cursed under my breath. Damn that Perses and his inability to stay trapped. He completely destroyed everything I had worked for for five years. Although I guess that's kind of his job as Titan of Destruction…

I was interrupted by Calypso's voice. "…should probably stay in bed for a few more days." What? Oh. She probably thought I had collapsed because I was still feeling weak. I hastily stood back up, shaking my head. "No, I'm really fine. It's just…do you know what happened?"

A grim look passed over her face before twisting into an expression of ironic amusement. "This might come as a shock…you should probably sit down for this." I stood there for a second until I realized what she said and then glared at her. She just laughed and motioned to the bed. Grumbling, I sat back down and turned towards her expectantly. "Well?"

She sighed. "Well, just like last time, you landed in the water. You drifted to shore, and I fished you out. This time, you had a weird green layer of energy around you, most likely put there by your dad. I dragged you into this cave and nursed you back to health." Here I interrupted her. "Why would my dad put something like that around me?"

"To protect your Curse of Achilles."

I raised my eyebrows at her. "Please explain." She nodded and grabbed her gardening shears that were lying against a wall. Before I could ask what she was doing, she came over and clipped at my arm with them. The blades sparked off of my skin, but I still jerked back out of instinct. I looked at Calypso angrily. "What in Hades was that?" She just looked back at me. "A direct hit from Kronos like the one you took should have shattered the protection of the Styx. I was just showing you that your skin is still invincible, otherwise that would have cut your arm."

I was confused. "So why didn't it?" Calypso smiled. "Because of that green layer. When you were up on Olympus, before you got hit by Kronos's explosion your father must have put a shield around you that protected your curse from this effect. He must have thought that your invincibility was more important than his health."

"Oh. But still, couldn't you have just told me that?" Calypso shrugged. "I've always been a more visual person." I dropped the subject, realizing I wouldn't get anywhere if I tried to argue. I decided to ask something else that was on my mind. "Is he the one who sent me here as well?"

Calypso nodded. "Yes, I would assume that as the former god of oceans, he of all people would have the power to send someone here for a second time. I'm sure he knew that this was the best place for you to recover."

I nodded and smiled at Calypso. Despite the…conditions that were attached to entering this island paradise, she really was a great host and an exceptional healer. And extremely beautiful…I was snapped out of this thought as something sinister occurred to me.  
"Calypso…did you say _former_ god of the oceans?"

She gazed at me sympathetically and sighed. "Even here in Ogygia, I can feel changes in the divine world. When Kronos erupted into his true form, it was enough for him to destroy the Olympian seats of power once and for all. After that, the entire mountain was soon destroyed. Two weeks later, Othrys was rebuilt in its full glory. The gods are no longer in control of the world."

My mouth went dry. "So who…" I couldn't finish my sentence. Luckily, she knew what I wanted to say. "Fortunately for you, Triton, Amphitrite and Delphin were able to mass evacuate the citizens of Atlantis while the army held off the attacking forces. Almost no civilians were injured, and everyone including most of the Atlantian Army was able to retreat into many impenetrable bases. Even so, Oceanus got exactly what he wanted. He is the new King of the Seas."

I couldn't speak. I met Calypso's gaze and let my eyes ask a silent question. _Where are the gods then?_ I knew the answer, but I had to hear it aloud. Calypso sighed. "He and the rest of the gods are imprisoned. Most are in Tartarus, but some are in…other places." I glanced at her sharply. "I thought you couldn't maintain connections with the outside world. How do you know so much about what happened?"

She didn't answer verbally, but instead reached into a pocket and pulled out an ocean green sheet of paper. "This letter was sitting on top of your chest when you arrived here. I imagine Poseidon attached it to you with the energy shield before he sent you here." I wordlessly took the paper and began to read it. Calypso stood there for a minute before excusing herself from the room. I nodded absentmindedly, too focused on my father's words to really register her.

_Perseus,_

_If you are reading this letter, then you must have regained consciousness from your fall and are now enjoying Ogygia with that nymph who seems to like you so much. Hopefully you have recovered well and are in decent condition. If all of this is true, then good for you! However, I think you'll find the situation over here in the real world is just a tad more fragile. You may have noticed that you still have your invincible skin. I'm sure Calypso explained why this is. Unfortunately, the energy it took to withstand a blast from that horrible Titan who calls himself my father, combined with the power I used to shield you from him as well as to send you, this letter, and a third package to a mythical island—well let's just say I was pretty tired after that. So tired, in fact, that I was unable to even lift a finger when Olympus exploded and Kronos came down to Earth to throw all of the gods into Tartarus. Well most of us anyway. Some of us were imprisoned in…other places. The Palace of Othrys was rebuilt after Olympus's destruction, and the Titans have retaken control of the world. Yes, the ocean as well. Triton, Amphitrite, and Delphin were able to evacuate every citizen in Atlantis as well as most of the army into several of my best protected bases with minimal injuries. Unfortunately, Oceanus seized Atlantis and is now Lord of the Seas. Luckily for you, this has no effect on your powers. You can still do all of those awesome things that you used to back when I was in charge. Which is really a good thing, because you'll need everything you've got to do what I'm about to ask you. To put it simply, Athena has devised a plan for rebellion, to overthrow the Titans once more and to reinstall an era of the gods and Olympus. We need someone operating for us, someone on the outside world to lead our remaining forces through this rebellion. Someone who is an incredible fighter, with a loyal heart and a determined spirit. All of us have agreed that you are perfect for this task. However, to explain this plan in more detail, and to set it in motion, we will need you to meet us face to face. You will have to re-enter the underworld, dive into Tartarus, and find our prison cells in order for us to truly begin our revolution. Everything that needs to be done will be explained once you reach us. I wish you good luck, my son._

_-Poseidon, Former King of the Ocean, Member of the Exiled Olympian Council_

_P.S. I sent you some new armor, and a ride. Since I don't own the ocean anymore, taking a raft from Ogygia would not be wise. I've given you a much safer and probably more enjoyable means of travel._

_P.P.S. Isn't this much longer than the last letter I sent you?_

I smiled as I read the last line, remembering how annoyed I had been with the last letter he had sent me. It was just like my dad to try and seem upbeat for my sake, despite all of the crap news that he had written in his letter. I still couldn't believe what he wanted me to do. To willingly dive into Tartarus would probably be the most insane thing I've ever done in my life, and that's saying a LOT. A revolution against Kronos…was there really a chance for this to succeed? This must be why my dad wanted me to keep the Curse of Achilles so badly. I would definitely need it where I was going.

Shaking my head to clear it, I stood up for the third time in probably as many hours and went to go find Calypso. She was exactly where I expected her to be: planting moonlace in her garden. I snuck up behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist. She smiled softly before leaning back against my chest.

"Did you finish reading the letter?" I nodded. "Yeah, although now I'm starting to wish I hadn't. I honestly can't believe what they want me to do. Who tells their son 'Oh by the way Percy, we want you to jump into the bottomless pit of hell and despair because it's easier for us to tell you our plan that way.'?"

I wasn't really mad at my father, but the whole concept seemed ridiculous to me. The ocean is unsafe for me, and I need to navigate my way through a Titan-ruled world into Los Angeles, where I would hop into the underworld, cross it, then jump into a prison so deep that even the gods can't escape it. Then, Athena tells me the rest of her suicidal plan, and I escape from said prison, once again taking the world on my shoulders and risking my life to lead an army that may or may not even exist.

Calypso sighed and turned around in my arms, sliding hers around my neck. Preoccupied as I was with worry, I still was able to notice that she smelled like cinnamon, just like she did last time I was here. Her deep almond eyes drew me in.

I was brought out of my daze by her voice.

"They chose you to lead them because they know you are the only one who can. They think that you have exactly what it takes to make it in and out of Tartarus, and they know that you are the only one who they can trust with their plans. They believe in you the same way that I believe in you, Perseus."

Then she separated the distance between us and kissed me right on the lips. It was a soft kiss, a gentle kiss, and yet it made me see stars. She tasted even better than she smelled. When she pulled back, I was completely speechless. She smiled at me, eyes shining. "Now go on hero, your ride awaits."

_Ride?_ I thought. My dad had mentioned a ride in his letter, along with a suit of armor. I looked in the direction that Calypso was indicating, and my stomach dropped.

Blackjack, my ever-so-faithful winged horse, was standing on the beach a few yards away, staring right at me and doubtless seeing everything that had just transpired. I groaned inside of my head, knowing that I was in for a crapload of teasing. And I was right.

_Wow, look at the big boss man, finally growing up! You really slay these here ladies, don'tcha pal? First the red-head, now this pretty little brunette here…_

_Blackjack,_ I thought angrily, _would you please shut up?_

_Sorry boss, but it's just cool to see how much of a ladies man you've become, just like your ol' pal Blackjack. Back when I was a young colt, the ladies used to love me too! I remember one time in the stables—_

_Blackjack!_ I thought, panicked. _Really, that's enough. I don't need to hear that!_ He shrugged his shoulders, looking completely unruffled by my outburst. _Whatevs boss. Got any sugar cubes on you?_

Sighing, I turned to Calypso. "Do you have any sugar cubes on you by any chance?"

She smirked in amusement and nodded. "I have some in the cave. While I'm getting them, why don't you try on that new armor of yours?" I nodded in agreement and turned to Blackjack while she walked off. _Got any armor for me bud?_ Blackjack nodded and turned to the right so that I could see what he was carrying on his back.

It was by far the weirdest piece of armor I had ever seen. It was essentially a black bulletproof vest, except it was studded everywhere with celestial bronze and some weird golden material. A sea-green trident design had been welded to the front. I knocked on the vest with my fist, and it appeared to have metal within it, again probably celestial bronze. I noticed that the studs were concentrated more towards my lower back, and realized that my dad had somehow deduced where my Achilles heel was and he designed this vest specifically to protect it.

I put the armor on over my shirt. It felt incredibly light, and was easy to put on and take off. Since it was sleeveless, I would have no trouble at all swinging my sword. I uncapped Riptide, taking a few experimental swings. It felt great.

"Not bad, Percy," said a voice from behind me. I turned to see Calypso, apparently watching me practice. She had a handful of sugar cubes in her right hand, and Blackjack was happily stuffing his face with them. I grinned at her. "I've had some pretty great teachers." Calypso smiled. "I certainly hope so." Then she frowned. "You'll need all of that experience to get through the pit." I grimaced at the mention of what I still had to go through. She continued talking, not noticing my expression. "I just came back to see you off…again." The tone of her voice made me want to stay right here with her, even though all of civilization was depending on me. I desperately wished there was some way of making everyone happy. Then I realized something. If the gods were the ones who had imprisoned her…

"Why don't you come with me?" The words escaped my mouth before I could even think. She looked at me oddly before responding. "Percy, you know I cannot leave this island. It is the curse that the gods have punished me with…" She trailed off as she realized the implications of that statement. She closed her eyes slightly, like she was trying to feel the force field holding her to her prison. Suddenly, her eyes flew open, and she let out a small shriek of joy before tackling me in a hug.

"The barrier is down! I'm finally free!" She was grinning ear to ear, laughing uncontrollably with pure delight. I was happy for her, but I was also anxious to go, so I tried calming her down. She finally stopped smiling like a crazy person, and got on top of my horse before either Blackjack or I could even react. "Well, aren't you coming?"

I rolled my eyes at her. "Women," I muttered under my breath so she couldn't hear, before I jumped onto Blackjack behind her and put my arms around her. _Ok Blackjack, let's head out to LA._

_Are we going to that creepy underworld place?_

I laughed, knowing that he would have asked me that sooner or later. _You don't have to come in if you don't want to. _He neighed contentedly and soon we were off, flying out over the lake towards California and whatever obstacles lay ahead.

_**Ugh, romance. *Cringes in fear* I literally felt sick writing those scenes, although that might be because of the flu virus that I seem to have contracted. Whatever, it's just not my thing. Give me a battle scene any day. Luckily there are a lot of those in the next chapter. Hope you all appreciate the double chapter after the wait. *shamefully looks at ground* I'm still really sorry about that. Now click that Next button and enjoy chapter 4.**_

_**-Menati Out**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**And here's the second part of my double chapter. To make up for the total lack of action in Chapter 3, I tried to put as much as possible in this one. So far we know that Kronos has taken over the world, the gods are in prison, and Percy has to jump down into the pit so that he can execute the plan to take the world back from the Titans. Also Calypso has just figured out that she can leave her island, and we see some more-than-friendly interaction between her and Percy. Now onto Chapter 4!**_

_**Disclaimer: All rights go to Rick Riordan and Hyperion Books. This story is purely for entertainment and will not be used for profit of any kind.**_

Four and a half hours later I found myself tired and sweating profusely as I faced off against an army of hellhounds and dracaenae. I ducked under a spear thrust, before rolling to the side to avoid a gnashing set of fangs. A quick sword thrust, and the ravenous monster exploded into a fountain of dust. I smiled. "That brings me up to seven hundred and ninety-one." Next to me, Calypso rolled her eyes. "Show-off." She hacked at a snake-woman with twin daggers that we had managed to scavenge from another roving monster party. The dracaena blocked both knives with her shield, but Calypso delivered a powerful kick that knocked the shield out of her hand before eliminating the monster with a quick thrust. "Five hundred and sixty-seven." I whistled appreciatively. She was definitely a daughter of Atlas.

Not to be outdone, I threw Riptide at a large cluster of dracaenae, killing seven or eight. I knew my sword would return to my pocket sooner or later, so I didn't worry about it. Another spear struck at my left shoulder, but instead of dodging it I braced myself with my right foot back and took the hit. The spearhead shattered against my skin, and the monster was so surprised that she didn't notice Calypso behind her until both knives were buried in her spine. I nodded in thanks. "Not bad…for a girl." I added teasingly at the end just to see her reaction. She glared at me furiously. "Not bad? What do you mean for a girl? I totally just saved your ass there!" As she was yelling at me, I noticed a hellhound creeping up behind her. I smiled to myself, deciding not to say anything. Right as it pounced, I grabbed Calypso with my left arm and almost threw her behind me, before winding up with my right fist and delivering a hard right hook to the huge canine's jaw. With a sickening _crack, _the monster's head snapped back as its neck shattered and it dissolved into dust.

I turned around and smirked. "I believe that puts me at eight hundred." She just huffed at me, not even bothering to reply. I'm just that awesome. I looked around, noting that there were around a hundred and fifty monsters left. We had been fighting non-stop essentially since we landed in California. Calypso had had this great idea of landing behind the Hollywood sign so that we wouldn't be seen. For some reason, monsters didn't want to go near that area. I guess even bloodthirsty beasts have decent taste in movies.

Unfortunately, we had barely gone a quarter of a mile when we were attacked by a force of a hundred and eighty telekhines. Between me and Calypso, they were easy enough to dispose of, but more and more kept popping up as we got closer and closer to the Underworld. We hadn't gotten more than ten minutes' break since landing. Now that we were almost there, barely five blocks from DOA Recording studios, the numbers seemed almost infinite.

I was broken out of my reverie as a spear collided with my back. It didn't hurt, as I was wearing my special armor vest, but the shock of having something so close to my Achilles heel jerked me back into reality. I whirled around, hand already in motion to deliver a finishing blow. My fist caught the snake-woman right in her throat, and she fell to the ground gasping as her neck cracked and her essence returned to the pit. The bottomless pit that I would soon be diving into…I shook these thoughts away. I could worry about that later, but right now, there was killing to be done.

Another dracaena appeared in front of me, this time using the typical gladiator weapons that I had come to hate from my time in the Labyrinth. She threw her net at me, trying to tangle my arms, but I just dodged to the left before continuing to charge. She thrust her trident at my face, but faster than either of our eyes could see my left hand shot out and grabbed the prongs of the weapon, twisting it out of her grip. I flipped it backwards in my hands before stabbing forward, sending the points of the trident through my intended target and her three sisters behind her. The trident felt great in my hands, as it should for a Son of Poseidon.

I felt a little uneasy, like that moment when it gets really quiet all of a sudden. Noticing that it really was too quiet, and that there hadn't been much chatter assaulting my eardrums, I quickly looked around the battlefield, wondering what happened to Calypso. I found her on a street corner encircled by five hellhounds. I quickly started to rush over to help, but as it turned out she didn't need it. I stared at her as she twirled gracefully, daggers flashing in the sunlight, as she ducked underneath claws, dodged bites, and rolled away from the onslaught of attacks. A hellhound leapt at her, but she threw herself below it before stabbing upwards. The hellhound erupted into dust, and she rolled away as the next one attacked. A third hellhound charged from the side, but as it neared Calypso she merely twirled to the right before burying a dagger hilt-deep between the hound's ribs. She tore out the dagger, leaving the monster to dissolve as she turned to face her three remaining opponents. I decided that she could handle the rest of them alone and turned back to my fight, seeing about eighty assorted monsters left to deal with.

Four hellhounds leapt at me. Instantly, I charged towards one and cut its head off of its shoulders with my trident. I turned and blocked an oncoming paw to my face, while sending a powerful side kick to my right where a third hellhound was. It flew back a good thirty feet and impaled itself on a protruding shard of concrete. Without even looking, I twisted my arm behind me and stabbed backwards with my trident, killing the hound behind me. I prepared to kill the final hound, but then I heard a whistling noise and one of Calypso's daggers embedded itself between the eyes of the beast. It instantly poofed into dust.

Calypso came up behind me. "Six hundred and forty-three." I glanced over to see her with a slight teasing smirk on her face. I smiled back. "Let's see how far apart the numbers are after this." I cocked my arm back and threw my trident as hard as I could, and when you add the Curse of Achilles to my already impressive strength and the power boost I had felt on Olympus, that was pretty hard. The trident flew through five dracaenae and two hellhounds before getting stuck in the wall. I reached into my pocket, and _finally _redrew my sword that had reappeared in my pocket some time ago. Sparing a second to grin at my female companion, I charged at the mass of monsters.

With my favorite weapon in hand, no monster stood a chance against me. I hacked and slashed, decimating row after row of the evil beasts that were trying to keep me from my goal. As I stuck my sword into the dracaena on my left, a hellhound pounced on me from the right. Barely looking up, I dodged the hound's mouth before grabbing the scruff of its neck and throwing it into several other snake-women, crushing some. A spear was thrown at my ribcage, but it sparked off of my skin, although it did push me back slightly. Recovering quickly, I swiped my sword in an extensive arc, cleaving six monsters in half. After that, I don't remember. I became a tornado of blades, stabbing, whirling, slicing, until I was panting in the center of a mountain of sand. I looked over at Calypso, and uttered two words. "Nine hundred."

She stared at me blankly, unable to formulate words, and I started to crack up. I couldn't help it. The exhilaration of the fight and the hilarious face Calypso made just broke every last layer of self-control that I had. She glared at me, for probably the seventh time that day. "Alright already, it wasn't that funny." She looked around, trying to avoid eye contact with me, until she realized somebody was missing. "Where's Blackjack?"

"I sent him ahead to the Underworld. He can't fight in close quarters like this, and the last thing I want is for my horse to be injured. He didn't want to go, but I promised him a box of donuts. Works all the time. They're like his version of Scooby Snacks."

Calypso looked confused. "Scooby-what's?" I mentally facepalmed. As if she would know who Scooby Doo was… "Never mind. Let's just go to the Underworld."

Five blocks later, we stood only yards away from the shabby, run-down building that was the disguise for the Underworld's entrance. The only thing stopping us from entering? The Minotaur. The ugly bull man just doesn't want to stay dead.

Like the last time I fought him, he was in full battle armor, with his Omega-bladed axe polished and shining in the sunlight. I had to admit, he did look impressive. But before I could spend too much time debating over whether or not I had actually just thought that, the Minotaur charged.

He roared challengingly, bringing up his axe to horizontally slice me in half from left to right. As he brought the axe across, I rolled under the strike and to the left before popping up and twisting to face him. He turned around, grunting, and swung the axe again, this time from above me to cleave me in half vertically. This time, instead of dodging, I dropped my sword, raised my arms up and caught the axe with both my palms. My knees buckled under the force of the blow, but over 5 years of intense demigod training combined with the blessing of the Styx gave me the strength to push back against the axe, even though it almost felt like holding the sky again. I tossed his axe to the side before picking up Riptide and stabbing his hand, severing his thumb. He roared again, this time in pain, before discarding the axe that was too heavy for him to lift with one good hand. This surprised me, because I had seen him throw a limo hundreds of feet into the air. That axe must have been _really_ heavy. Which meant that somehow, I must've gotten _really _strong.

He threw a right hook at my jaw, but I saw it coming instantly. I stepped backwards out of range before whipping my sword up and cutting off his whole hand in a flash. Before he could even register the pain, I stabbed forward and the tip of my blade punctured his throat. I watched for the third time in satisfaction as the Minotaur dissolved into dust. I chuckled low in my throat. "That guy never learns." Calypso shrugged. "Maybe he'll stay dead for a while this time." I nodded. "Let's go. I want to get this over with." I put two fingers to my lips, and whistled. Immediately a shadow fell over us as Blackjack came out of hiding. He came to a stop next to me, and I rubbed his back affectionately. _Ready to go buddy?_

_Yeah boss-man, I'm ready. But next time, I want some action._

I sighed. "Whatever." Turning to Calypso, I asked her the same thing. "Ready to go then?" She responded with a short nod, and I helped her onto Blackjack. Together the three of us walked into the realm of the dead.

When we walked in I saw that the waiting room was empty. There were no souls waiting for Charon to let them cross the Styx, and now that I looked closer, there was no Charon either. I strode over to his desk, looking for the elevator pass that would take us down into the Underworld. After looking through several drawers, I finally found it and waved it in the air triumphantly. Without looking back, I sent a message to Blackjack that we were ready. I walked over to the elevator and activated it while Blackjack followed with Calypso on his back. The elevator had four buttons on it: Surface World, Lobby, River Styx, and Tartarus. Mentally wondering why anyone in their right mind would press the Tartarus button, I punched in River Styx and we descended. Moments later, the doors opened, and we stepped out into the layer of Erebus.

The first thing that I noticed was that I was completely wrong about the Underworld being monster-free. Hellhounds were literally everywhere, and I could see flocks of Keres, or winged spirits of disease and violent death, as they flew above the Fields of Punishment. Skeleton warriors walked freely, while telekhines relaxed in or near the fires of the Underworld. Fortunately for us (and my dignity) I was right about not having to worry about any Titans. The only one who could get down here was suffering from an extreme case of Lethe-induced amnesia. He wouldn't tell anyone that we were down here. And that was the most important part. I didn't want anyone to know that I was alive if I could help it.

I looked over to Elysium, expecting with a heavy heart to see the beautiful fields overcome by monsters and in a state of destruction. What I saw instead filled me with joy. A shimmering transparent barrier, kind of like a force-field, separated the land of heroes from the rest of the monster-infested Underworld. I watched as children played in the fields, friends talked, and families relaxed together and cooked barbeques outside. My stomach grumbled. Calypso laughed. "You're really thinking about food at a time like this?" I shrugged. "It smells awesome. We should definitely go get some."

Calypso just smirked. "Well, Blackjack and I _are_ going over there, like we had originally planned. Meanwhile, you get to jump into the pits of Hell! But don't worry; we'll bring you some food when you get back." I mock glared at her. "Gee, thanks. Remind me to bring you a souvenir as well. But for now, we need to find a way to get you over there in the first place without alerting every monster in the Underworld."

She grinned evilly at me. "Why don't you just cause a distraction?" I sputtered. "Are you out of your mind? You want me to distract all of them? That's completely insane!" She looked irritated. "You're jumping into Tartarus anyway; just lead them all in that direction. I highly doubt they'll follow you in there." I sighed. As usual, I lost the battle of wits. I should probably start thinking up excuses in advance… "Fine. I'll do it. Wish me luck, and you better thank me later." She smiled for real this time, and her eyes twinkled with mischief. "Or I could just thank you now…" And then her lips were on mine, for the second time today. This one was even better than the first kiss we had shared. I was sure I was blushing as she pulled away. "Sooo…I'm gonna go do that distraction now." She nodded in mock seriousness. "That would probably be a good idea." "Right. See you." And with that I walked off. Curse my awkwardness…

20 minutes later, I was hiding behind a large stalagmite, only a few yards from a telekhine camp. Sneaking over here had been relatively easy, as I had managed to evade all but a few skeleton warriors. I had figured out that if I crushed the bones to powder after killing them, then the skeletons were unable to reform. For some reason, the monsters were unable to smell me. Probably because I had killed so many monsters on the way here that I was completely covered in monster essence. Whatever the reason, I was now crouching behind my rocky shield, waiting for Blackjack's signal to punish the idiot monsters who were foolish enough to camp next to a river. Especially one called the River of Pain. Like, hello?

_Ok boss, we're ready to go! Time to start kicking some monster-tail!_

I grinned widely. _Roger that. _Let's get this show started.

I let my senses immerse themselves in my divine powers for a bit, before reaching out to feel the Acheron. I could feel the energy inside of the magical river, and I used my demigod core to assume control. Once the tugging feeling in my gut had reached its peak, I brought my hands together in a loud _CLAP!_

The river exploded. A towering wave of the boiling water crashed down on the monster camp, causing them to scream in pain as they burned to death. I waved my hand, and more waves poured from the river, dousing hellhounds and skeletons alike. The monsters were in a panic, oblivious to who was causing the destruction. I smirked.

_Go, Blackjack! Get to that forcefield!_

A sense of acknowledgement was all I heard from him before I tuned everything out in order to prepare for the next blow. Much like the last time I was down here, I focused all of my power on the river Acheron, and lifted it into the air.

Sweat poured off of my forehead and out of my hair as I struggled to keep the river afloat. My arms started to shake from the strain. Just a few more seconds…

With a _WHOOSH _the entire river gushed out onto the lands of the Underworld. Scalding hot water poured over every monster around me, instantly vaporizing them. Easily three hundred monsters, gone in a flash. On the plus side, I had way fewer monsters to deal with. On the bad side, I was now the only living thing within a hundred yards of me, and every eye in the Underworld was on me. So I did the natural thing. I ran.

Thousands of monsters chased me as I sprinted towards Tartarus. Above us, the Keres chased me in the air, screeching with delight and laughing maniacally. Two of them, faster than the rest, were able to catch up and swooped down on me, talons outstretched. Right as they were about to make contact, I reached into my pocket, and whirled around, uncapping my blade as I did so, so that the demons wouldn't see my weapon until it was too late.

The bronze blade hummed as it sliced through the air, cutting the bird demons open like piñatas. I stumbled as some of the sand from their dying essence got into my eyes. Unfortunately, getting it out cost me several precious seconds, and a pack of hellhounds was able to gang up on me. One of the more impatient ones tried the direct approach: jumping at me face-first with its mouth open. What it didn't expect was for me to simply stick my arm out and let it clamp its jaws onto my bicep. Of course, I was fine, but the stupid dog exploded into dust. This definitely pissed off the others. The other five hellhounds charged at once. One tried to swipe me with its paw, but I ducked under the blow before plunging Riptide into its gut. Another jumped at me and would have landed right on top of me if I hadn't done an awesome backwards somersault that put me right behind the unexpecting hound. A quick thrust, and there were only three left.

The third and fourth hellhounds came from either side of me, while the fifth one tried sneaking up from behind. I tensed in the middle, ready to spring into action. All three pounced at the same time. As the two predators on my sides closed in, I leapt backwards towards the third one, inside of its striking range, and caught it by its neck with both hands. Grunting with effort, I threw it towards the spot that the other two hellhounds had converged on. I watched in satisfaction as the three monsters tore each other apart.

Unfortunately, while I had gotten sidetracked, the army behind me had caught up to me. Looking around, I found myself surrounded on all sides by hellhounds, empousai, telekhines, and skeletons. More Keres circled above me, cawing in triumph.

I frantically looked around for some kind of advantage. I saw the River Styx, far away in the horizon, but that wouldn't do me any good. The Acheron was on my left, but it was still too far away for me to effectively use.

I looked to the right and nearly cried with relief. The River Lethe was right there, its pitch black waters separating the Underworld from the land of Rebirth. I smiled as I once again prepared to lift the magical river.

Unfortunately I hadn't gotten very far when I was attacked by a squad of empousai. Releasing my hold on the river, I sighed and met them in combat. Dodging the first spear thrust, I spun to the right and slashed one of them in half. The other two that I had aimed at managed to dodge, but I quickly recovered and stabbed my blade into the chest of a second one. The third one tried to chop off my head with a knife, but I threw up my arm and the blade broke against my skin. I drew back and punched her in the throat, hearing the sickening _crack_ as her neck snapped and she faded into dust.

Scooping up Riptide, I parried three attacks before sweeping my sword in a wide arc to fend them back. By this time, the rest of the monsters had gotten bored and charged me. It was now around nineteen hundred to one. Since I couldn't run this time, I decided to fight them head on.

I flipped over a skeleton before delivering a roundhouse kick to a telekhine's head, snapping it off of its shoulders. I drove Riptide into an empousa's ribcage before tearing it out and slicing off a hellhound's head. A Kere attacked me from above, but without even looking I stabbed upwards and was rewarded by a rain of golden dust.

I let my invulnerable side take over me, and reacted purely on instinct and senses instead of thought. My mind blanked out as I started to spin, my sword acting like a tornado of blades as it mowed down dozens of monsters. The Keres attacked from above, where my sword wasn't, but it was useless as they couldn't break the skin on my head and shoulders. I started moving slowly but deliberately towards the right, where I knew I would find the Lethe and hopefully the end of this battle.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, I reached the waters of the Lethe. Smiling, I knocked a hellhound out of the air before decapitating an empousa, and then just for fun I threw a skeleton into the river. When it came back up, the skeleton's eyes seemed emptier than usual, which was weird because they were just empty sockets anyway. It stared at me blankly before drifting downstream, swept away by the current.

Not having much time to waste, I jumped into the black river, making sure that I had put on my special water protecting powers. Confirming that I was still dry, and still knew who I was, I swam to the bottom of the river, preparing the final blow. I raised my sword in the air—or water—and brought it down, burying it to the hilt in dirt, and releasing all of my built-up power.

_FLOOOSH_! A thirty-five foot wave exploded from the river, sweeping everything in front of it away. As I rode the crest of the wave, I could see the damage that my tsunami had done. Well over a thousand monsters had been swept by the wave, many having drowned, others on their backs gasping for air. The other 500 or so that had hung back looked at their allies warily. It was already apparent that they had lost their memory.

I was so busy staring at my handiwork, I didn't notice the presence behind me until I heard a happy yet questioning voice. "Percy?"

To say I was shocked was an understatement. I must've jumped fifteen feet into the air. I turned around quickly, immediately assuming a defensive stance. I sized up the man in front of me, reviewing possible identities. He looked to be around ten feet tall, and was powerfully built, yet skinny and haggard, as if he hadn't been eating enough. His pure silver eyes were intimidating, and contrasted with his goofy smile. Oh.

I smiled back at him. "Hey, Bob. Nice to see you down here." He grinned at me widely. "Good to see you too! How's that shoulder?" I remembered that he had healed my shoulder the last time we had met. "It's never been better. You did an awesome job healing it. By the way, your English has really improved!" He laughed. "Yeah, I've been getting a lot better. That Nico kid used to come down here a lot to teach me English. Speaking of which, do you know where he is?"

His words ran through me like a lightning bolt. My throat closed as I realized that I hadn't even thought about what happened to the Manhattan survivors. I knew that almost all of the mortals had escaped, but where did everyone run to? "I don't know man. Hopefully he'll be back soon." He nodded, then stared over my shoulder at something. "Hey man, what's with all of those guys behind you?" I turned to see what he was looking at and noticed that the monsters that hadn't been memory-wiped were trying to control the ones that had, to no avail. The monsters that I had hit were just walking around aimlessly, doing absolutely nothing. Looking back at my Titan friend, I had an idea to finally get rid of all of them.

"Listen, Bob, could you do me a favor?"

"Sure, what do you need?"

"Could you yell 'Monsters, attack the enemy around you' really loudly?"

He raised an eyebrow at me. "What's the point of that?"

I was stuck. "Um…" But then he laughed. "Just kidding man. I'll do it if you want me to."

I nodded. "Yeah go ahead." "Ok. MONSTERS, ATTACK THE ENEMY AROUND YOU!"

His booming voice had the desired effect. Even though the monsters had lost their memories, I knew they would instinctively respond to the commands of a Titan. They immediately turned to tear each other into pieces. Bob and I watched for ten minutes exactly before only two winners were left. Mrs O'Leary—my own faithful hellhound—and Cerberus stood in the middle of the battlefield, both with their tongues out and panting like regular dogs do. You know, if regular dogs were the size of mammoths, or had three heads.

I grinned. "Thanks Bob, you really helped me out there a lot. It was good to see you, but I kind of need to go now."

Bob nodded but frowned. "Where could you possibly be going down here?"

I froze. Should I tell him or shouldn't I? Of course, I didn't have to answer that question as my body did it for me. Despite all of my self control, I couldn't help but glance at the gaping hole that was the entrance to Tartarus. Bob looked over to where my eyes were and then he gasped.

"No! You can't go in there! It's terrible!"

I didn't know how he knew that, given that he shouldn't remember ever being in there, but I was guessing that he still possessed instinctive memories involving being a Titan and suffering a lot in Tartarus. I sighed. I didn't want him worried, but it's not like I had a choice, right?

"I know it's bad, but I don't exactly have a choice now do I?"

"I don't know Percy…I'm getting bad vibes from that place."

Bad vibes? I shook my head. "Dude, who turned you into a hippie from the 70's? Listen, I have the whole invulnerable Styx Achilles thing going for me. My skin can't be cut. I'll be perfectly safe."

Bob grimaced at me. "If I can't stop you from going, then I'm coming with you." I opened my mouth to protest, but he silenced me with a rather impressive glare. "No complaints. This is the deal you're getting." I thought about it. A friendly Titan would do me a world of good down there, and he could definitely take care of himself. And if not, my undeniably cool self would be there to do it for him. And I've really spent too much time with Apollo.

"Ok man, if that's what you want. Let's go."

I looked over towards where Mrs. O'Leary and Cerberus were play-fighting together, creating small earthquakes whenever one of them pounced. I hoped that my megadog would stay away from where we were going, but I figured Cerberus would keep her away.

I nodded my head towards Bob, and together we walked off towards Tartarus. When we got there, I looked down, trying to see if there was anything besides pitch-black down there. Apparently not. As usual, I spoke without thinking. "Man that's a deep hole…" Bob laughed. "Yeah apparently it's bottomless, although for some reason I don't believe that. It's probably just really deep." I nodded. "Ready?" He shrugged. "I guess not. On three?" I shook my head no. "Or we could just go right now." And with that I jumped over the edge.

_**And so ends Chapter Four. I know adding Iapetus in there was a little unnecessary, but IMO a Titan named Bob is too great to only be used once. Besides, he'll make a great fighter for the rebellion. Chapter 5 will focus on what's been going on outside while Percy's been having his miniquest. It will most likely be a filler, so I'll try to make it short and do another double. I think I'll bring in Jason next chapter as well. And yes, I did throw in some more romance. No, I did not enjoy writing that at all, but the battle scenes definitely made up for it. Also, don't expect the first pairing to be the main one for the whole project. I do enjoy switching things up.**_

_**-Menati Out.**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**Welp. Yet another long wait. Sorry about that, but, procrastination and writer's block are a deadly combination. I've been trying to figure out how to advance the plot and introduce the rest of the characters, as well as get the ball rolling on this revolution. This chapter will not feature Percy's Point of View, although the next might.**_

_**Disclaimer: All rights go to Rick Riordan and Hyperion Books. This story is purely for entertainment and will not be used for entertainment of any kind**_

**(Annabeth's POV—Sea of Monsters)**

I was in an enormous cave on a beautiful island, planning with Chiron and the other cabin councilors on what our next move would be. Unlike the rest of the Manhattan survivors, I could not admire the natural magnificence of the island that we had taken refuge on, nor the smaller islands that surrounded it. Why? Because I had already been here, a long time ago, and the memories were not pleasant ones. Where was I? The answer was simple. Polyphemus's island, right smack in the center of the Sea of Monsters. I looked over to Clarisse, noting that the same discomfort was on her face as she gazed around the massive cave that she had once been imprisoned in. Yeah, it made great shelter, but still.

How had we gotten here? Thank Poseidon and Hermes. The two of them had somehow managed to get all ninety of us demigods out onto the East River, where we were dumped into the Atlantic and transported down the coast into the Sea of Monsters. Normally it wouldn't be such a good idea to send nearly a hundred half-bloods into a sea named after its huge monster population, but these were not normal circumstances. After all, the natural barrier of Mist surrounding the Sea of Monsters was so great that Oceanus was unable to see or feel us in his domain, provided that nobody actually went into the water. And it's not like any other Titan forces would think to come out here. Thankfully, I had remembered that Polyphemus was even blinder than usual, and against our small army which included children of Zeus and Hades, he stood no chance.

All of our other forces had scattered before Kronos went supernova. Thankfully, the gods had managed to get all of the mortals outside of the blast zone, and all of the Party Ponies were long gone. Which was good, because right after Kronos evolved into his true form, he started to smash Manhattan until it was nothing more than a large pile of ash.

After that, he declared his supremacy over the world. The Mist was broken, and for the first time all mortals could see the supernatural world that was right in front of them. This, of course, led to mass panic and rioting, which destroyed many cities and claimed thousands of lives, until the Titans scared the humans into peaceful submission. Even so, the world outside was not a pretty one. Monsters roamed freely in the cities, and they had started to impose themselves as greater than the humans, demanding that they do their bidding or else be eaten or tortured by Titan supporters. Some, not wanting to be subjected to this lifestyle, joined the ranks of the Titans instead and carried out their orders in the mortal world. Hunger and poverty spread like viruses in nearly every city, save those that were occupied by the Titans. And the worst part of it was that I was stuck here, in the former cave of a Cyclops, without any way of helping.

I was broken out of my thoughts by Chiron's voice. "Annabeth, what do you think?"

Crap…of course he was talking to me while I had zoned out. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

Next to me, Clarisse rolled her eyes. "Geez Owl-head, use that big brain of yours and pay attention."

I glared at her. "First of all, don't call me Owl-head. Second, I've got a lot on my mind right now, since apparently I'm the only one that knows how to take charge of ninety warriors that are always trying to kill each other for some stupid reason. If you would take responsibility for once, maybe I wouldn't have to be zoned out all the time."

Clarisse's face flushed a bright red. She was about to retort, but Chiron spoke up. "Enough, children. We've all got plenty of problems to deal with without you two fighting over something pointless. Annabeth, what I had asked was whether or not you had any ideas concerning our food supply and how long we can make it last."

Of course. "Why don't we just eat the crops and fruits that the Golden Fleece gives us? And for meat we can kill some of those man-eating sheep that Polyphemus loves so much. It's not really that hard."

This was one of the times that I was really thankful that other people besides me could use their brains. When Argus had heard that the gods had fallen, all the way at Camp Half-Blood, he knew that we would be retreating from Manhattan through certain specific routes, so he quickly took everything that he thought was important before hopping on top of Peleus (our very own dragon) and flying over to meet us. Luckily for us, he had remembered to take the Golden Fleece in his retreat, which we planned to use to restore the island to its previous beauty and cause it to grow a whole bunch of food-bearing plants, including mangoes. With this great artifact, we'll never run out of food.

Chiron winced. "It's not that simple, my dear. It turns out that the Fleece seems to be…missing." At my incredulous stare he continued: "Argus and Peleus were ambushed by Titan forces as they flew over Miami. I told them not to go anywhere near those accursed Heat…" He trailed off, muttering to himself about a championship, before realizing that he had gone off topic. "Anyway, Clarisse, has proposed that we execute a search and rescue with the objective of finding Argus and our dragon, as well as the Fleece, which could do awful damage in the hands of our enemies. Normally I would be completely against such a risky mission—"

"But unfortunately, you've realized just how desperate we really are." Surprisingly, the words didn't come from my mouth. Startled, everybody glanced around wildly for the source of the voice until they found it nonchalantly leaning in the corner, gazing out at all of us demigods assembled with a bored expression written on his pale face and reflected in his onyx eyes. The shadows seemed to cling to their master as Nico di Angelo walked out from his corner and stood to face Chiron. "We can't exactly take the ships back to America for a shopping trip, and I'm definitely not shadow-travelling back and forth enough to feed a hundred soldiers. Unless you plan on crossing the Atlantic to get food—which in itself is unbelievably risky—we're going to need a way of making our own food, and right now, our only option is the Fleece."

Silence fell after that depressing statement. Chiron cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Hem…yes, thank you for that wonderful assessment Mr. Di Angelo."

Clarisse snorted under her breath. "Yeah, thanks a lot Mr. Doom and Gloom. Like there isn't enough creepy in this cave already."

Nico's eyes narrowed as he opened his mouth to reply, but thankfully Chiron once again had the sense to intervene before anything lethal broke out. "Any news from the Underworld, young one?"

Nico sighed. "It's not like I stayed long enough to find anything. The Underworld's been overrun with monsters. The skeletons no longer obey me, and the Keres are wreaking absolute havoc wherever they can. Elysium is protected by some weird force, but besides that there isn't a single place that's safe down there."

Chiron grimaced. "Any sign of either the Furies or Lord Thanatos?"

The son of Hades shook his head sadly. "No, and I couldn't find Cerberus either. It's like now that my father is gone, the Underworld is trying to get rid of any sign that he was ever there. Although…"—here he looked at me pityingly—"I did see something that looked a lot like Percy."

It was like hitting a switch. Instantly, the expressions on everyone's faces morphed from tension and concern to outright shock. I could feel my entire body shutting down as all the blood rushed to my brain. With difficulty, I managed to compose myself enough to formulate the million dollar question: "Do you…do you think that it could have been him?"

A grieving expression flitted across the Ghost King's face before it settled back to its normal smooth mask as he opened his mouth to speak. "I doubt it. I saw him near the Cave of Melinoe, so it was probably just that awful goddess using my guilt against me to create hallucinations. Besides, when I saw 'Percy' he was with Blackjack and a woman that I recognized as Calypso from the myths. Those are like the two least likely people to be down in the Underworld. I must have been seeing things."

I had expected that answer, but I could still feel myself deflate as I realized once again that Percy was dead. It still killed me to think that I had safely escaped from Olympus while my best friend stayed behind to fight Kronos himself on his own. One look in Nico's eyes told me that he felt the same way.

Chiron must have seen the expressions in both of our eyes, because he was quick to console us. "You must both know that young Perseus's death was neither of your faults. He faced down his opponent like a true hero would, and damn near prevailed as well."

There was nodding and murmuring all around the cave as each counselor—Clarisse included, shockingly enough—voiced their assent. Clarisse then stood up abruptly, startling Will Solace and Katie Gardner, both of whom were sitting right next to her. She glared around at everybody with fire in her eyes, until her gaze came to rest on Chiron's deep brown irises. "Which brings us to what should be our main objective."

Looking around, I could tell that everybody was confused. Being the de facto leader of our little group of demigods, I decided to assert my role by asking Clarisse what the hell she was talking about. She glared at me with an intensity that could have burned through diamond before turning to face everyone and answering my question. "It's no secret that I'm not Prissy's biggest fan, but I always respected him as a soldier and as leader. Up there on Olympus, he fought as hard as he possibly could against the freaking King of the Titans. He gave everything he could to hold back Kronos for as long as possible so that _we_ could all escape New York with our lives. Now he's dead because of it, and what are we doing with his sacrifices? Sitting around in a cave, trapped on this stupid island, doing absolutely nothing to stop the horrible things that are happening to the mortals _right now _in the country that we just evacuated. We're the only people in the world who can stop the Titans from ruining the world, and yet we're holed up in these caves like a bunch of rats, worried about starving to death and trying to prevent a bunch of campers and hunters from killing each other. Well, _you guys_ might want to live the rest of your lives like captives and fugitives, but _I _don't. I am the daughter of a god, and I'm going to live like one, and when the time comes I'm going to die like one."

Flabbergasted faces were seen all around as Clarisse finished her speech, red-faced and huffing due to anger and lack of breath. Finally, Chiron managed to find his voice to respond. "Clarisse, I understand perfectly what it is that you're feeling, but what do you propose that we do? We are vastly outnumbered by both monsters and mortals that defected to the Titans. Not to mention that the Titans have evolved into their full powers and they now have a fortress to shield them! It would be madness to attack them with so few soldiers."

In reply, Clarisse rolled her eyes. "I'm not an idiot Chiron, I'm not suggesting that we go to California and start storming Othrys. But we can still hurt the Titans and their forces. Somebody needs to go to Miami anyway to retrieve Argus and the Golden Fleece. We know that they must have a base set up around that area, so why don't we send a larger force to infiltrate it? We can get plenty of intel on their plans that way, plus we can destroy the base and eliminate some Titan troops while we're at it."

Chiron seemed to be mulling it over in his head, so I stepped in. "I agree with her Chiron. I'm tired of just sitting here and doing nothing. We need our Fleece back anyway, and the information that we could gain on this mission might just be exactly what we need to get the ball rolling on something bigger. Besides, it would give us a huge advantage if we could remove Titan forces from the Miami area. From there, we would be able to gain control of all ports and naval activity, which would allow the rest of our forces to cross the Gulf into Mexico."

That sold it for him. None of us could figure out why, but Chiron seemed extremely bent on somehow getting all of us out of the Sea of Monsters and into Mexico. Unfortunately, we would have to sail right past Southern Florida to do so, and the risk of running into Titan forces was too great. We couldn't go around the Caribbean Islands either, as those waters were infested with tropical sea monsters. There was no way that Chiron would pass up an opportunity to clear the path to Mexico.

As usual I was right. Chiron closed his eyes before exhaling deeply and turning to Clarisse. He opened his eyes and nodded. "Very well, you can take a party of our ten best soldiers to American Airlines Arena. You'll find that the Titans have converted it into a base of operations for one of their sub-commanders. This mission is observe and destroy. Try and get as much intel as you can on Titan movement before obliterating the place."

For the first time in a long while, a broad grin split Clarisse's face. "You won't regret it. We will return with our Fleece, Argus, and the ashes of an army in our hands."

Chiron's eyes crinkled with smile lines before he sobered up again. "Just be careful. What ever it is that took down a giant and a dragon, I'd prefer you not to meet."

_**Again, sorry about the long wait. When I came up with this story, I had a beginning and an end, but no middle storyline whatsoever. I assumed that as I wrote the introduction the plot itself would come to me, but that wasn't the case, so I ended up with six months of writer's block. It didn't exactly help that my beta (and apparently my only fan) basically disappeared off of the internet. Speaking of whom, does anyone actually know what happened to ChrysosArgentum? Hmm. **_

_**Anyway, Clarisse's revolution continues next chapter. After that we'll get some insight on the Roman side of things, and then (finally) check on Percy and Bob in Tartarus. If only HoH were out so that I could get an actual picture of what Tartarus was supposed to be like. I guess I'll just have to do my best.**_

_**Please R&R**_

—_**Kelu Menati**_


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